A Quick Guide to Red Wines : wine, red, cab...

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Wine lovers tend to take sides when proclaiming the best vintages. Here is a quick guide to the reds, which often are picked as the best.

Ask a wine aficionado what type of wine they like and they almost always will pick red or white. Rarely will they proclaim a love for both. This is somewhat ironic given the fact that each goes with particular dishes, but who am I to quibble? Here’s a quick introduction to the various red wines one can experience.

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Cabernet Sauvignon is the standard bearer when it comes to a red. If you are just getting into the wine experience, it is pretty hard to go wrong with a “cab”. This wine has undergone a unique expansion wherein it was originally associated with Bordeaux, France wineries, but is not produced from California to Australia. The wine is either medium or bold in taste and often is noted for its black currants aroma and flavor.

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Quickly gaining on cabs in popularity is the Merlot red wine. Merlot is a traditional wine produced in Bordeaux, but has also found popularity in vineyards in California and Chile. This a full blooded red wine with a lot of taste and higher alcohol content than a cab. It is also much smoother than a cab, which may make it a better choice if you are just starting out with the wine experience.

Pinot Noir is the next well-known red wine in our cellar. This is a hit and miss wine for most wineries and most wine drinkers. Whereas producing an acceptable Cabernet Sauvignon can be relatively simple, the same cannot be said for Pinot Noir. The vintages are noticeably different and some can be awful. On the other hand, many a wine expert has opined that Pinot Noir done right is the finest wine possible. Unlike cabs and Merlots, this wine is not produced in mass quantities due to its temperament. The best comes from Burgundy, France, but acceptable vintages are produced by wineries in California and Oregon.

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There are a variety of other red wines that are also produced by wineries around the world. To the surprise of many, zinfandels come in a red in addition to the far more popular white vintages. Regardless, the three reds mentioned above make up a majority of the reds on the market and are a good place to start your wine tasting experience.

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